BIPARTISAN INTRODUCTION: Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx will get some home state love on Wednesday when both Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan introduce him at the Senate Commerce Committee’s confirmation hearing. Hagan told MT that Foxx “has done a lot for Charlotte” and ticked off the transit, airport and intermodal expansion moves that he has overseen as something that “bodes well for one city’s perspective to the Department of Transportation.” Hagan also said that “several” senators have asked her about Foxx. Burr told MT that he will give his strong support but isn’t necessarily pitching Foxx to Senate colleagues. “Only thing I do with all North Carolinians, I ask that [senators] show them the courtesy of meeting with them.”

8 questions: The Heritage Foundation, no fan of a strong federal role in infrastructure, poses eight questions they want Foxx to answer, including if states could take over some transport responsibilities, how he thinks should trust fund dollars be spent and if transit is an effective use of gas tax dollars. The group also wants Foxx to shoot down outgoing Secretary Ray LaHood’s stated goal that DOT should “coerce people out of the cars.” Read the full quiz: http://herit.ag/18coBVt

Other questions? You’ll have to wait for the hearing. The Commerce Committee is not releasing Foxx’s questionnaire, an aide tells MT.

TODAY — Rental car safety: Claire McCaskill will chair a Senate hearing on a bill that she’s co-sponsoring with Barbara Boxer and others that would prohibit the rental of cars under a recall. The “Big Four” rental car companies voluntarily agreed to pledge not to do so under pressure from Boxer last year, but McCaskill told MT it will be good to codify that voluntary pledge. “If it’s worth saying that you ought to not be able to rent a car that’s not safe, seems to me it’s a good idea. And we’ve worked hard to make this legislation reasonable,” she said, noting the support of big rental companies — and that people often rent cars from car dealerships too. “That’s one of the reasons we’re going to have the automobile dealers.” McCaskill hopes to soon hold a mark-up on the bill — or attach it to other legislation.

In the House: Members vote on a bill to create a “wounded warrior screening program” to ensure that TSA officials treat vets the same as everyone else. The bill, from combat veteran Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, would also mandate that TSA train screeners so that vets aren’t singled out, require continual meetings between TSA officials and veteran groups and require annual reporting on the issue. It’s up for a vote under suspension of the rules today, which requires two-thirds support and bars amendments. Here’s the bill text: http://1.usa.gov/10I5JHA

POLITICO PRO TO LAUNCH ‘CEO REPORT’ IN JUNE: POLITICO Pro’s latest newsletter, “CEO Report,” will debut next month. Written by POLITICO Playbook’s Mike Allen and Pro Editor Martin Kady II, the once-a-month feature will offer executives and policy professionals an exclusive summary of the most important policy debates. CEO Report’s easy-to-read, forward-looking format is designed to get you up to speed without having to sort through the daily minutia of Washington policy. Interested in receiving CEO Report? Become a Pro today: https://www.politicopro.com/proinfo/

YOU WANT A DRINK WITH THOSE FREEDOM FRIES? Is NTSB Chair Debbie Hersman “trying to take away another freedom” by requesting that states lower the tolerance level for drunken driving? That’s what one C-SPAN caller has accused her of, but the chairwoman said it’s not like that all. “It certainly is anybody’s right to have drinks. Have one, have two, have three, have four, have 15. Just don’t drive,” she said. She also pushed back at the suggestion that one glass of wine would now result in drunk driving penalties. “It’s not going to affect most Americans having a glass or wine, a bottle of beer, or two. What it will do is help drive down those fatalities and injuries,” she said. Kathryn brings Pros the breakdown: http://politico.pro/YUIIEJ

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METRO-NORTH SERVICE BACK WEDNESDAY: New York’s MTA says the Metro-North commuter rail line will resume full service on Wednesday, just five days after two commuter trains collided and severed commuter and Amtrak service in Connecticut. “We are confident that the reconstruction work, inspection and testing will be completed in time for a normal rush hour on Wednesday,” said Metro-North President Howard Permut. The MTA says it is rebuilding 2,000 feet of track at a “brisk pace,” first installing new track, then adding overhead wires and signals. Amtrak will resume New Haven to New York service on Wednesday and is offering refunds or vouchers to those affected by the outage.

More perspective: In her C-SPAN appearance, Hersman also talked about the Metro-North crash but gave no indication of when the NTSB's investigation might be wrapped up. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said a fractured rail is the focal point of the inquiry, but that it isn’t clear whether the rail was fractured during the crash or was the cause of it. Blumenthal, a Commerce member, wasn’t sure if the committee would hold hearings on the crash (“we really need to know the results of the investigation”) but was sure it should spur transportation investments. “We can look at additional investments in infrastructure, not only to prevent accidents but also to improve the quality of travel by rail.”

UNITED FLIES FIRST DREAMLINER FLIGHT: A United Airlines flight using Boeing’s Dreamliner airplane landed safely in Chicago Monday afternoon, marking the first time in four months that a U.S. carrier has flown passengers on the plane after battery troubles grounded the high-tech aircraft. The flight, from Houston to O’Hare, lasted just shy of two hours and makes United the fourth airline to fly the plane after new battery and ventilation systems were installed to address overheating and smoke problems. There were already a dozen 787s flying passengers for Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Air India, a Boeing official said.

AIRPORT LISTICLE: President Obama has noted several times recently that the U.S. doesn’t have a “top 25” airport. But there’s many ways to judge an airport and he’s missing the main point, Eno Transportation’s Joshua Shank wrote to MT. “To say we do not have an airport in the top 25 of the World Airport Awards is misleading given that we have 4 of the top ten busiest airports in the world, and our goal as a nation should not be to appear on any survey list,” Schank wrote. “A better focus, and one which the President would likely support, would be on accelerating NextGen air traffic control and assisting the most congested airports in adding capacity.”

MT POLL — Will Foxx make it across finish line? DOT nominee Foxx has a big week ahead of him in the Senate, so help us handicap how successful his nomination will ultimately be. Will he easily slide through, get held up or maybe get narrowly confirmed? Let us know by Sunday at noon: http://poll.fm/48hf7

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)

- NTSB takes flack for bus classifications that led to closure of 26 closures. Businessweek: http://buswk.co/116O5xh

THE COUNTDOWN: DOT funding and passenger rail policy both run out in 133 days. Surface transportation policy is up in 501 days and FAA policy in 863 days. The mid-term elections are in 532 days.

CABOOSE — Do the shuffle: The Post has a pretty definitive tale about the Washington area’s Capital Bikeshare system, but our favorite detail is about the delicate dance it takes to keep popular stations stocked. Indeed, 100 percent of MT writers use the system, but the biggest hitch in the idea’s giddy-up is the frustrating nature of empty or full stations. One rider summed up that moment: “By the time I get there, there’s no bike, and I’m stuck carrying a helmet. I have to get on a bus or hustle my way downtown. A scenario like that played out too many times.” http://wapo.st/115Jtr6

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Authors:

About The Author

John Burgess Everett is a congressional reporter for POLITICO. He previously was a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro, Web producer, helping run POLITICO’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, and a contributor to the On Media blog.

About The Author

Adam Snider is a transportation reporter for POLITICO Pro and author of Morning Transportation. He has covered transportation since 2007, joining POLITICO in 2011 to launch MT and later found the word “Mica-ism.”

Snider is a fan of all modes of transportation, though nothing beats a good silly walk. In his spare time, he can be found brewing a hoppy beer, rooting for the Nationals, watching a bad 1970s horror movie or exploring the District from his home base in Mount Pleasant.

Adam studied English and communications at Clemson University in South Carolina. His work has been featured by Nieman Journalism Lab and his snark has appeared on MSNBC. He has had several works of fiction published in literary journals and is constantly reminded of his proclamation to a fiction professor many years ago that journalism is for sellouts who abandon their creative dreams.